Design, Analysis and Obstacle Avoidance Control of a Smart Wheelchair

Abstract

The wheelchair users are generally exposed to physical and psychological health problems, e.g., pressure sores and pain in the hip joint, associated with seating posture, or being inactive in a wheelchair for a long time. A smart wheelchair with back, thigh, and leg adjustment helps in daily life activities and health preservation. The seat elevating function of a wheelchair allows the user (lower limb amputation) to reach different heights. Thus, this paper proposed the design, analysis and obstacle avoidance control of a smart wheelchair with sit-sleep-seat elevation functions. A 3D model of the wheelchair is designed in SolidWorks which is later used in MSC Adams (Automated Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems) to examine and prove the multi-body dynamics of a wheelchair. A fuzzy algorithm-based driving control system is designed to avoid the obstacle by getting information in the form of distance from the ultrasonic sensor and user-specified direction from the joystick's operation. The driving control system mainly focuses on the direction and velocity of the wheelchair. The designed driving control system has been implemented and tested in Gazebo simulator using Robot operating System (ROS). Simulation results verify the non-accidental behavior of the smart wheelchair.